T E C 



TECONAjin Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in Dow- 

 latabad ; 2 i miles W. of Poonah. 



TECONIC Falls, a cataraft in the river Kennebeck, 

 about 65 mites from its mouth. 



TECORIPA, a town of New Mexico, in the province of 

 Sonora ; 70 miles E. of Pitquin. 



TEC R IT, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the government 

 of Moful, fitiia''ed on a rock near the weft fide of the Tijrris, 

 on the bordfi s of the Arabian Irak. Tecrit is thought to be 

 the Birtha or Vitra of the ancients, defcribed as a very ftrong 

 fortrefs, and faid to have been conftrufted by Alexander 

 the Great. It was chofen in the feventh century for the 

 abode of a Jacobite primate, and increafed to a confidcrable 

 town. In 1393, it was taken by Timur Bee, who put all 

 the foldiers that defended it to death. The ruins are exten- 

 five, and the number of houfes amount to about five or fix 

 hundred, with a caravaufera and two cofTee-houfes ; 120 

 miles S. of Moful. N. lat. 34° 37'. E. long. 42° 37'. 



TECTONA, m Botany, a name altered by Linnaiusfrom 

 the Eaft Indrar; r.ame of this valuable timber-tree, Tei, Tciia, 

 Theia, or Teak, and made clafTical, according to a method 

 which he fometimes ufed, from te^Ivv, a carpenter, or tckIovm, 

 a piece-ifjorh In timber, or iron, both derived from iivx''', to 

 build ; alluding to the ufe of the wood in building houfes as 



well as (hips Linn. Suppl. 20. Schreb. 141. Willd. Sp. 



PI. V. I. 1088. Mart. Mill. Dia. v. 4. Thunb. Nov. Gen. 

 diff. 4. 71. Ait. Hon. Kcw. V. 2. II. Gsertn. t. 57. 

 (Theka; JuiT. 108. Lamarck Illuftr. t. 136.)— Clafs and 

 order, Pentandria Monogynia, Nat. Ord. Perfonatti, Linn. 

 V'ttices, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, bell-fhaped, 

 its margin in five, occafionally fix, ovate blunt fegments, per- 

 manent. Cor. of one petal, funnel-lhaped ; tube Ihorterthan 

 the calyx ; limb in five, occafionally fix, deep, obovate, crenate 

 fegments, incurved at the point, twice as long as the tube. 

 Neftary a glandular ring, at the bafe of the germen. Stam. 

 Filaments as many as the fegments of the corolla, inferted, 

 alternately therewith, into the tube, decurrent, thread-lhaped, 

 ereft, rather longer than the limb ; anthers heart -ihaped ; 

 two-lobed, ereft. Pifi. Germen fuptrior, nearly globular, 

 downy ; ftyle thread-fhaped, downy, (lightly curved, the 

 length of the corolla ; ftigmas two, revolute, obtufe. Peric. 

 Drupa nearly globofe, deprefTed, dry, fpongy, hairy, con- 

 cealed in the enlarged, inflated, membranous calyx. Seed. 

 Nut bony, the fhape of the drupa, with a terminal knob, of 

 four cells, with folitary kernels. 



EflT. Ch. Corolla five-cleft. Stigma divided. Drupa 

 dry, fpongy, within the inflated calyx. Nut of four cells. 

 Obf. The terminal flowers are often fix-cleft. 

 I. T. grandis. Teak-wood, or Indian Oak. Linn. 

 Suppl. 151. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. i. Roxb. Coromand. 

 V. 1. 10. t. 6. (Theka ; Riiccde Hort. Malab. v. 4. 57. 

 t. 27. Jatus ; Rumph. Araboin. v. 3. 34. t. 18.) — Native 

 of the mountainous parts of the Malabar and Coromandel 

 coafl:s, as well as of Java, Ceylon, and other countries of the 

 Eaft Indies, flowering during the hot feafon ; but not till 

 tl)e tree is arrived at a confiderable age and magnitude, fo 

 that there is little chance of feeing it bloffom in our iloves, 

 where young plants are fometimes introduced. The trunk 

 in its native country grows creft, to a vaft height, with co- 

 pious fpreading oppofite branches, croiling each other, 

 quadrangular when young. Leaves fpreading, oppofite, 

 ilalkcd, elliptic-oblong, acute, entire, flightly waved, with 

 one rib and many tranfverfe veins, whofe fubdivifions are 

 finely reticulated ; their upper fide rough like a file ; lower 

 finely downy : their length is generally about a fpan, but 



TED 



the leaves on young branches fometimes mcafurc eighteen 

 mches or two feet, and arc nearly half as much in breadth. 

 Panicles tcrmmal, ho.-iry, very large and fpreading, rcpcitcdly 

 fubdivided in an oppofite manner, with lanceolate brafi/as, 

 Floivers very numerous, comparatively fmall, being fcarcely 

 half an mch long ; externally hoary ; internally yellow, 

 dotted with red. Anthers yellow. Fruit the fize of a fmall 

 cherry, rough, brown, in a large membranous, brown, blad- 

 dery calyx, refembling the Phyfatis Alkegengi in gcticral fhape, 

 but hardly fo large. 



The wood of this tree is, as Dr. Roxburgh remarks, by 

 far the moft; ufeful timber in Afia ; it is light, eafily worked, 

 and though porous, both ftrong and durable. For fliip- 

 building it is peculiaily excellent for its lightnefs, and its 

 durability either in cr out of the water. Pegu affords the 

 largeft quantity of this timber, which is eafily brought down 

 the rivers of chat co^nitry, and fold cheap. The fame author 

 mentions thul the banks of the Godavery, in Hindooftan, 

 afford a teak which is beautifully veined, much clofer in the 

 grain, and heavier, than ufual. This fort is peculiarly fitted 

 for furniture, :nd gun-carriages.-^Teak-wood, according to 

 Thunberg; iLiches a confiderable price at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, on account of its great utility, in a country where 

 large timber-trees are rare. 



TECTOSAGES, or Volca: Teffofages, in Ancient Geo- 

 graphy, a people included amongft thole who inhabited the 

 fouthern part of Gaul, belonging more particularly to 

 Languedoc. 



TECTRICES, in Ornithology, are the lefter coverts of 

 the wings of birds, or the feathers wliich lie on the bones of 

 the wings. 



TECUCZl,OTTECVTSCH,in Geography, a town of Euro- 

 pean Turkey, in Moldavia, on the Birlat ; 70 miles W.NiW. 

 of Galatz. 



TECULET, a town of Africa, in the empire of Mo- 

 rocco, fituated near the coaft of the Atlantic, on the edge of 

 a mountain. In the year 15 14, this town was lacked by the 

 Portuguefe, and a great number of inhabitants carried away 

 for (laves. It has been fince re-peopled ; 15 miles E. of 

 Mogodor. 



TECUM Duces. See Duces. 



TED, in Agriculture, a term made ufe of to fignify.the 

 fpreading abroad new-mown grafs, which is the firft thing 

 done in order to its being dried, and made into hay. Much 

 m the procefs of hay -making depends upon good and com- 

 plete tedding of the grafly hay in the beginning of the 

 work. 



TEDANIUM, Tedonius, or Tidanus, in Ancient Geo- 

 graphy, a river of Illyria, which ferved as a boundary be- 

 tween this province and Japygia. Pliny. 



TEDBURY, in Geography. See Tetbury. 

 TEDDER, Teddoh, or Tether, in Agriculture, a rope 

 or chain by which an animal is tied, and confined in the 

 fields, that it may not pafture on too wide a range. This is 

 very fcldom a good praftice, or one that fliould be much 

 followed. 



TEDELER, or Tedlis, in Geography. See Dell vs. 

 TEDESCHI, or TuDEsnii, Niccolo, in Biography, 

 an eminent canonift, fometimes called " the .abbot," and 

 fometimes " Panornjitanus," from the city of Palermo, the 

 city in which, as fome fay, he was born, in 13S6, though 

 others make Catania his native place. At the age of fourteen 

 he took the habit of St. Benedici in Catania, and after- 

 wards purfued his ftudiis at Bologna. We fliall not follow 

 him througli all tlie ftages of his advancement from one de- 

 gree of reputation, and from one ftation of honoiu- and trull 



10 to 



